The Federal Government has paid the sum of £250,000 as running cost to Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID).
The payment follows the 26th Sept. order by Justice Christopher Butcher of the Commercial Court in London which granted Nigeria leave to appeal against the $9.6bn awarded in favour of P&ID over an alleged breach of a GSPA gas supply contract tagged Gas Supply Processing Agreement.
The Judge ordered that the £250,000 be paid to P&ID within 14 days (which elapses today, Thursday), as part of conditions to appeal the judgment.
The payment was reportedly made through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), confirmed the development to Punch in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Malami said although the government had appealed the order to pay $200m into the court’s account and applied for a stay of execution, it paid the £250,000 cost out of respect for the court.
He said: “You know that there are two sets of money involved. There is the $200m security payment and there is also the £250,000 cost.
“The $200m security payment has not been paid. We have appealed against the order and we have also applied for stay of execution of the order.
“But we have paid the cost, which is £250,000, to P&ID. The Nigerian government paid that cost out of respect for the court.”
(C) Control TV 2019.
